Issue - meetings

Consideration was given to the report of the Chief Resources Officer.

The Chief Officer Resources advised that the Council had a statutory requirement to calculate the Council Tax Base for each financial year. The Council Tax Base was a measure of the Authority’s tax-raising capacity which was expressed in terms of the number of Band D equivalent dwellings taking account of exemptions reductions.

The Chief Officer Resources advised that the Council’s Tax Base for the current year, 2020/2021 was set at 20,662.45 and for 2021/22 proposed the Council tax base be 20,794.09 which reflected the increase of 222 domestic properties in the last 12 months.

The Chief Officer further explained that there had been a review of council tax collection during 2019 which resulted in some changes to collection methods. Whilst in 2019/2020 there was an early indication of improved collection rates, the coronavirus pandemic has had a significant effect on current council tax collection rates across Wales and it was anticipated that this would continue into 2021/22. The Chief Officer Resources therefore felt it prudent to estimate the in-year collection for 2021/2022 to remain at 95%.

The report was welcomed by the Executive and the increased housing numbers was pleasing to note. It was advised that despite the pandemic there still remained great interest by developers in Blaenau Gwent.

RESOLVED that the report be accepted and approved the Council Tax base calculation for 2021/22 as detailed in Appendix 1 tables 1 to 6 of the report, and that the council tax base for tax setting purposes be 20,794.09.